Glenn Irwin victorious in British Supersport Sprint race at Knockhill

Kyle White

Glenn Irwin has moved into the joint lead of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship after securing a battling victory in the Sprint race at Knockhill in Scotland on Saturday.

The 25-year-old chalked up his second consecutive victory on the Gearlink Kawasaki after earning his first win of the season at Snetterton.

Irwin held off a late challenge from Profile Triumph’s Luke Stapleford to clinch a deserved win on the ZX6-R and is now tied on 156 points with Stapleford at the top, who finished as the runner-up.

The delighted Carrick rider said afterwards: “I thought after Snetterton we were back but I didn’t want to say too much.

“We were quick yesterday, not as quick as the other guys but I could feel I was good and I knew where we were losing time.

“Chris Taylor from K-Tech was in the garage about 20 minutes before the race and we made a change to the bike and it worked perfect,” he added.

“We’ve got last year’s confidence back now and I always say that’s dangerous for the other lads, although I don’t want to sound cocky because there are four or five guys who can easily find that level here.”

Kyle Ryde finished in third place, while Portadown’s Marshall Neill was 11th on the Evo-spec In Competition Yamaha and fellow Northern Ireland man David Allingham 16th.

Irwin will start Sunday’s Feature race on the front row from second place, with Jake Dixon – who crashed out of Saturday’s race – on pole on the Smiths Triumph.